Of all the people in my family, I am the most intrigued by international foods and the most likely person to want to try — and actually like — foods and recipes that are popular in other parts of the world. I love Indian food, especially from one of our local Indian restaurant’s weekend buffets. I have a friend who occasionally cooks mouthwatering recipes from her native Thailand for us. I’m all for eating at Greek, Italian, African, Chinese, or Mexican restaurants. Set me loose in an international grocery store and I’m like a kid in a candy shop looking at all the unique selections on the shelves.
One of the things I like about Aldi and about Trader Joe’s, which is a distant cousin to Aldi, is that they offer a rotating stock of internationally inspired foods. Aldi, with its origins in Germany, is known for the German food it stocks a couple of times a year. Trader Joe’s is a great place to get Indian or Indian-inspired frozen entrees.
One product Trader Joe’s is selling (and it appears to be a seasonal summer item) is tres leches cake. This cake originated in Nicaragua and is popular in Latin America, Central America, and South America. The name means “three milk” cake, and it’s a light spongy cake soaked with three different kinds of milk. Wikipedia states that tres leches cake is soaked with evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk. The TJ’s tres leches cake is soaked with heavy cream, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk.
You can find tres leches cake at certain bakeries, or it’s not hard to make it yourself. I belong to a Trader Joe’s fan Facebook page where no one can start a discussion thread about this cake without there being some mention of Porto’s Bakery, a California bakery chain owned by a Cuban-American family, which reportedly makes some of the best tres leches cake you’ll ever taste.
But if you can’t get to Porto’s and you don’t feel like baking, you can try the Trader Joe’s version.
Trader Joe’s Tres Leches Cake cost $7.99 at the time of publication. The package describes it as “a Latin American inspired sponge cake soaked with 3 milks and topped with whipped cream.”
This is kosher certified. If you’re looking out for allergens, it contains milk, egg, and wheat.
One box contains four servings. One serving has 350 calories, 22 grams of total fat (28% DV), 13 grams of saturated fat (65% DV), 170 mg of cholesterol (57% DV), 125 mg of sodium (5% DV), 23 grams of total sugars, and 20 grams of added sugars (40% DV).
Nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
The cake is sold frozen, and the box has defrosting instructions. For best results, remove the tray from the outer box, leave the plastic overwrap intact, and place the cake in the refrigerator overnight. For quicker thawing, leave the plastic overwrap intact, thaw at room temperature for 2-3 hours, and enjoy immediately. Once defrosted, you’ll need to store this cake in the refrigerator. If desired, you can serve it with fresh berries or a sprinkle of cinnamon.
The frozen cake inside its inner packaging.
I thawed this cake in the refrigerator for about six hours, which is less than overnight like the package recommends, but it was just about completely thawed when we cut into it.
One slice of cake.
If you’ve never had tres leches cake or any kind of “soaked” cake before such as Italian tiramisu, this is going to be a different experience. Glancing at discussions about the TJ’s tres leches cake on certain Trader Joe’s fan Facebook groups, a lot of people talk about how soggy the cake is. Yes, it is soggy because it’s had various milks poured over it. Most people seem to either like the texture or not. I’m okay with it, although the rest of my family didn’t care for it.
As for taste, this is sweet without being overly sweet. The cake is a classic white or vanilla cake, and it has plenty of milky flavor. I found that flavor to be okay even though I don’t always care for drinking plain milk. The thick layer of whipped cream topping is nice, and whipped cream has long been my favorite type of cake frosting, more so than buttercream, so this is right up my alley. I sprinkled a little cinnamon on top of my slice of cake, which I highly recommend. It adds a little spice and flavor and really improves on what already seems to be a good cake, if you like tres leches cake.
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s Tres Leches Cake is TJ’s take on a popular Latin American dessert. It features a light sponge cake with three different milks poured over it: heavy cream, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk. It’s all topped with a layer of whipped cream. This is a rich, not overly sweet cake with a creamy texture. It is on the soggy side, but that’s to be expected with this type of cake. If you enjoy trying foods from different culinary traditions, I recommend this.
